File case



March 12, 1935. R. WURZBURG 1,994,159v

FILE CASE Filed March 22, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 12, 1935. R, WURZBURG FILE CASE Filed March 22, 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. l2, 1935 y UNITED `STATES PATENToFFlcE Belinda T6311. Application m, 1903s, N0.. $62,163

My invention relates to certain improvements Fig. '1, asimilar view with parts omitted, over the construction shown in my application Fig. 8, a detail of a modification, and 637,938, filed October 15, 1932, and it is an object Fig. 8a a detail of another modication. l of the same to provide means whereby a plurality Referring to the drawings,.reference character 5 of flle cases of the character therein disclosed may 10 indicates the outer shell of a ille case such as be piled in a stack and held securely in relation disclosed in my previous application, said shell to one another, it having been found that the being adapted to receive a drawer 11 with a hanupper file cases, when loaded, have a tendency dle 12 for moving it in and out. At the front to move endwise or sidewise with reference to the end of the shell the walls are folded inwardly as l cases underneath them, thus marring the appearillustrated at 13, the side walls being preferably 10 ance of the'stack and interfering with efficient folded in rst and then the front ends of the functioning of the device. Loaded drawers also upper and lower walls being folded in, thus locktend to dump when drawn out, and are liable to ing the folds of the side walls positively in place overturn one or more units of a stack. and also holding the folds of the upper and lower l Another object is to provide means for renderwalls by the friction of their ends against the ing the movement of the drawers into and out of folds of the side walls. Dotted lines at 14 and the shells easier and quicker in a simple and ef- 15 in Fig. 2 illustrate steps in the folding operafective manner. These shells and drawers are tion, it being understood' that the ends may be made of heavy corrugated cardboard or equivalent folded either one or more times as may appear material in such ways, known to the art, as to enconvenient or desirable. One of the sealing strips 20 able them to be knocked down for shipment and is illustrated at 16, this Strip hOlding in place storage. They include aps which are folded to folds at the rear end of the shell.

position when the shells are set up, which flaps In order to ease the in and out movements of are then secured in place by adhesive strips or the drawer when the same is filled and to reduce 42li the equivalent thereof. The weight of the drawthe fricticnal Wear between contiguous faces. I 25 ers is supported mainly by the folded-in ends of apply lubricant to those faces of the walls 13 the walls, and more particularly of the lower wall. which contact with the drawer 0r t0 the adjacent Due to the nature of the material there is very faces 0f the drawer or to both the she11 and considerable friction between the drawer and the the drawer, as may be mund best for Particular 80 adjacent faces of the folds when the drawer is situations. 'Ihis lubricant Vis preferably a 50nd 3o loaded and then moved in or out and one purpose material Such as paran and Preferably it iS ap- 'of myV invention is to provide inexpensive and ef- Dlied as illustrated at 17 in Fig. "I, over a substanfective means to minimize such friction and to tial part 0f the inner face 0f each fOld althOugh reduce wear. The sealing strips for holding thy in some cases I may apply it only to the bottom flaps of the shells in place also prevent movement f01d It is also possible t0 apply it as shown in 35 of air into and out of the shell -and since the Fig. 3; i. e., not only over the inner face of the drawers fit rather closely in the shells there is a fold as at 18. but continuously about the folded considerable air resistance to the inward and Portion whereby the solid lubricant at 19 and outward movement of the drawer. 'My present 20 Serves aS an adhesive for holding the folds in 40 invention provides means for eliminating such Place and may also stiften the front part 0f the 40 resistance and to reduce wear. wall. For further easing the movements of the Referring to the drawings, which are made a. drawer, I provide holes in the shell and these part of this application and in which similar refmay be Such aS Shown at 21 at the rear of the erence characters indicate similar parts: shell 0r may be provided in the strip 16 as indi- Fig. 1 is a perspective of a le case according cated at 22- Preferably however they are made 4,5

to my invention, in the drawer itself, as shown at 21', since such Fig. 2, a vertical section thereof, a construction Serves the Purpose and does not Fig. 2a, a partial section of a modified form of admit dust, as in the arrangement shown in Fig. 2. the invention, File cases of the character herein described are 60 Fig. 3, a detail section of a rom at the front particularly adapted for use in situations where so end of the shell, aflle is growing rapidly or where the files are Fig. 4, a vertical section illustrating parts of tempcrary and S0 are usuallyrlf nOt universally. the front ends of two superposed ille cases, 0f the S0Ca11ed Sectional type- It frequently Fig. 5, a similar detail of a modified form, happens that, either due to careless handling or Fig. 6, a front elevation of a stack of nle cases, to different weights of material in diiferent units 5g of the series, one section will slide in or out or laterally with reference to those below it and/or to overturn one or more units and dump the contents of the drawer. This ,is undesirable for ob-y vious reasons and as a matter'of convenience, I have provided means to eliminate such undesirable movement .and to prevent accidental dumping of a drawerA that has been pulled out, as well as upsetting of one or more units. Such means may be of very simple character, as illustrated in Figs. 4and 5. In Fig. 4 I have shown what is in effect a double-ended nail 23 having a head at 24. Such a nail can readily be held at the front end of the wall as the ap is folded in and its upper end will then project straight upward so that said end can be similarly positioned in the vfold of the side wall of a superposed shell. By the use of two such rod-like devices at the front end of a stack, two superposed shells can be held rigidly in position with reference to one another. The enlargements 24 are here shown as resting upon the upper end of the folded flap 25 and normally will be pressed into the side wall slightly as best shown at the left hand side of Fig. 4. Obviously an ordinary nail 23' (Fig. 8) with a head at one end may be utilized in place of the double-ended nail 23, in which case the head will be positioned somewhat lower down on the ap 25 than in Fig. 4, whereby it will be securely held between flap 25 and the outer wall portion, the head forcing its way into the adjacent faces of each portion.

Instead of using a nail at the front end of a shell a staple such as shown at 26 may be utilized, this staple being inserted close to the outer wall in such a way as to straddle the contiguous walls of two superposed shells i. e. lower wall 27 of an upper shell and upper wall 28 of a lower shell. Such a staple should be inserted at such points that it will not come in contact with the drawer and at the front end of the device the points of the staples will be covered by the folds at the ends of the walls. I have shown a staple as used at the rear ends of the shells, they being simply thrust through the rear walls of two superposed shells, which walls include lateral iiaps and upper and lower flaps 10", the staples being in such position as to straddle the contiguous walls or to be embedded in side walls 29 and 30 at a position corresponding to that shown in Fig. 5. When used at the rear end of the stack the staples should also be so located as not to engage the drawer and for this reason it is preferable to insert them close up to the side walls or to embed them in the side walls at this location. Obviously all these devices can be removed very readily if a stack is to be taken down or rearranged. The use of such means as nails and staples for securing the shells together in a stack may also serve as a means of economizing in the material of the file cases, since it will be evident that the folds 13 need not extend all the way across a wall in order to coact with nails or staples for holding superposed shells in place; in fact, if staples are used the folds of the side walls could be eliminated entirely when the le cases are to be used for light material and thus certain economies in the construction could be effected,

In Figs. 6 and 7 I have shown another form of means for holding the shells in position at their front ends. This means comprises upright rods 31 adapted to be positioned between a side wall such as at 32 and a flap 33 in the process of setting up the shell. Each rod has enlarge- In Fig.

ments 34 spaced apart at a distance corresponding to the heights of the individual units. The rods are adapted to be connected by flat strips 35 or equivalents thereof which strips rest on enlargement 34. -In the process of assembling a stack of 111e cases such as illustrated in Fig. 6, each of the rods will be positioned at the outer end of the wall so as to be locked in place by a flap 33, it being remembered that each of the side flaps 33 will ordinarily be folded in before lower flap 36 and the corresponding upper flap are folded in, thus locking the side flaps in place. Each rod 31 having nowbeen locked in the position illustrated in Fig". 7,- the enlargements 34 will occur in the positions shown in Fig. 6 and a strip 35 may now be brought to position on the enlargements 34 by means of the lateral slits at 35' or other suitable means, after which the. next unit may be brought to position, its end flaps folded in so that the side flaps embrace the rods 31, another strip 35 positioned on the rods and so on.

It will be seen that the strips 35 serve not only to hold the rods 31 more securely in position but they also receive the weight of the successive file cases -at the front end thereof, taking the weight olf the middle portion of a lower file case and aiding in preventing sagging of the middle portion of the file case resting thereon. By this means the weight of each file is independently supported and the upper and lower folds of the shell can be made shorter and lighter while being still ample to carry the weight of the load in the drawer, since now there is present a. stronger metallic supporting means whereas prevously the strength of the folds at the front ends of the shells had to -be relied on for this purpose. In the modified form of Fig. 8a, a. band at 34a provides a support for the strip 35, and other ways of assembling the strips in coacting relation with the upright rods will occur to those skilled in the art. l

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many changes may be made in the device of my disclosure all without departing from the spirit of the invention and therefore I do not limit myself to what is shown in the drawings or as described in the specification but only as indicated in the appended claims. The term solid is used in the claims to designate formsustaining material whether the same is a true solid or a semi-solid such as parain and similar lubricating substances.

Having thus fully described my said invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In combination, a stack of le cases each comprising a shell with an open end to receive a drawer, the walls of the shell being folded in about said opening, separate rod-like means at one or more corners of the stack for uniting superposed shells, said means being inserted under the folds on the side walls and held in place thereby, and enlargements on said rod-like means concealed within a corner of the stack coacting with the contiguous portions of the shell to hold said means in place substantially as set forth.

2. In combination, a stack of collapsible file cases each comprising a shell with an open end to receive a drawer, the walls of the shell being folded in about said opening, rods for uniting superposed shells, said rods being inserted under the folds on one side walls, spaced enlargements on said rods, and detachable strips resting on said enlargements, said strips lying between superposed shells.

3. In a file case, a drawer, a cardboard shell therefor, said shell having its wall folded in at the open end thereof, and solid lubricating material on the fold of the bottom wall.

4. In a file case, a drawer, a cardboard shell therefor, said shell having'its walls folded in at the open end thereof, and solid lubricating material on the folds of said walls at the faces erigaging said drawer. l

5. In combination, a stack of file cases of paperlike material each comprising a rshell for receiving a drawer therein, `means for holding the individual file cases in place in the stack including upright rods secured to the shells, and transverse strips between the shells, said strips being secured to the rods and serving to support the upper shells of the stack the strips being detachably connected to the rods for convenience in assembling or taking down the stack.

6. In a le case, a drawer, a cardboard shell therefor, said shell-having its walls folded in at the yopen end thereof, and solid lubricating material between contiguous faces of a drawer and its shell.

7. In a me case, a drawer, a cardboard shell therefor, said shell having its walls folded in at the open end thereof, and solid lubricant on a face of the drawer which engages the shell.

8. In combination, a stack of file cases of cardboard or the like, each comprising a shell with an open end to receive a drawer, the side walls of the shell being folded inward at said open end, separate odlike devices uniting superposed shells at one or more corners of the stack said devices being inserted between the folds of the side walls and held in place thereby, and encircling enlargements on said rod-like devices adapted to bite into the folds of cardboard to maintain said shells and said rod-like devices in their relative positions.

9. In a le case, a drawer, a cardboard shell therefor, said shell having its walls folded in at the open end thereof, and lubricating material between contiguous faces of a drawer and its shell.

REGINALD WRZBURG. 

